S R J Debt Recoveries, Client: Phoenix (Littlewoods)

123578

Comments

  • I received letter from SRJ claiming that I have unpaid Gas bill in the flat I lived 3 years ago and moved out in August 2006. The bill is for period 11.04.06- 08.08.06. The thing is I have a bill paid, stamped by bank for period 11.04 - 27.07.06. When I was trying to explain to the srj employee that I have already paid for most of the period and even if there is outstanding bill I only should pay for the 27.06 - 08.08.06 he got aggressive, said that he has other people to talk to and hanged up! I also called British Gas and the not able to access the bill anymore and they seemed completely not interested in the fact that I have paid the bill 3 years ago. By the way British gas had always had my address because I had and still have account with them at every address I lived. they also have my phone number which they used when I was switching to EDF to talk me out of it. How come they are able to pass my details to other company without trying to contact me.
  • Hello

    Quite puzelled, I have received a Trace Confirmation letter from SRJ Debt Recoveries. I'm unsure what the debt could be, as I have no recolection of any outstanding obligations except my career development load which I havn't missed payment on. The letter has no information on what the debt is, or who it is owed to, or even how much it is. Though it does say go to srjpay.com to pay the debt, and there is a direct debit form on the back of the letter. I'm trying to look up what I should do next and appreciate any advise people can offer me.

    AndyB
  • andyfuk
    andyfuk Posts: 62 Forumite
    If the letter is addressed to you, and all the other details are correct, then I'd send a template letter asking for proof that this debt is for you: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...93&postcount=2

    Sign it digitally, (i.e. don't sign it with a pen), and don't give them anymore information than they appear to have. e.g. If they have addressed it to MR A. N Other, sign it A. N. Other.

    By all accounts don't use the website: it is probably fishing for more information!
  • thanks andyfuk. I've read on a few other forums of others getting similar letters, it is exactly like the one featured here :- consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/debt-collection-industry/238986-trace-confirmation-srj-debt.html (6th post down, can't post as link as new user, sorry).

    Right now, I'm tempted to just wait and see if any follow up is made, it seems that from searching online they may be just looking for people with the same name, as right now the letter does not refer to any debt, simply an instruction to call them. I don't want to do anything that may cause me to take ownership of the debt.
  • Simon_T_4
    Simon_T_4 Posts: 2 Newbie
    edited 9 February 2010 at 11:27AM
    Hi all, im hoping some of you knowledgeable people can help. Ive recently had a couple of letters from SRJ claiming that i owed £275 to Sky TV which ive apparently owed since August 2005. I phoned them up and had a chat with some pretty helpful bloke. My problem is this, i moved out of the property that the debt is for in May of 2005 and transferred the debt over to someone else in the house (shared house 5 of us total), i cant for the life of me remember who that person was. Anyway i told the bloke at SRJ this and he said to send in a letter saying that the debt wasnt mine and explain the situation and everything should be sorted soon after. So i did, Ive now had a letter this morning asking for some sort of proof that the debt wasnt mine and that i did transfer it to someone else. How can they expect someone to have proof 5 years later that i transferred it to someone else and how do i deal with it? I dont have any proof at all and i didnt know that i should keep all paperwork for a minimum of 5 years (maybe im being naive or maybe they are being unreasonable i dont know). Judging by the posts in this thread they arent a nice company anyway so what hope have i got of getting my name cleared from all of this? Have any of you experienced similar run-ins with SRJ? If so, how should i proceed? Any advice would be fantastic as im a mature student at uni now and definately cant afford to pay this, more to the point since its not my debt i shouldnt have to pay it anyway but if its the only way to get my name cleared then maybe i should???

    Thanks in advance and keep up the great work you all do on this website.

    Regards,

    Si
  • No one?Please? Im verging on desperate :mad:
  • Hi Simon,

    Don't worry. You will be able to get this sorted. I can imagine how desperate you must feel. I felt exactly the same in your situation.

    When I was in a similar position with SRJ, I had great difficulties in getting any response out of them other than "prove it". My alleged debt was with Talk Talk (Tiscali).

    What I did was wrote a letter to SRJ and to Talk Talk disputing the debt (there are templates on here that you can use and adapt for yourself). Talk Talk took the account off SRJ and brought it back "in house". For me, this is a much better situation to be in, dealing with the Talk Talk rather than SRJ who in my experience haven't been any help.

    What I would suggest is you follow similar routes. Send a written letter (there are templates on this forum) to SRJ and a copy to Sky disputing the debt. Sky should (if they have any sense which I believe they do) take the account off SRJ and deal with it themselves.

    This is a much better position to be in.

    One other point. In my experience dealing with SRJ has been very stressful on the phone. Try to deal with this going forward in writing only and always post your letters to them registered post if you want to be certain that they've received them.

    Can I also suggest that you log a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading who SRJ and Sky are regulated by when collecting debt. The best way of doing this is looking up the number for Consumer Direct. Tell them how harrassed you feel (if indeed you do) and let them know that this isn't the first time you've been chased for this.

    Please anyone else reading this, log all your complaints of harrassment with Consumer Direct in the same way. It is important that Consumer Direct and the Office of Fair Trading start seeing signifant numbers of reports about this company.

    I personally will not rest until a) they change their ways or b) they are closed down.

    Let me know how you get on Simon and don't worry.
    ___________________________________
    Expecting Standards for a reason....
  • You don't know how pleased and relieved I am to find this forum!
    I too have been receiving threatening letters from SRJ saying I owe TalkTalk/Tiscali money on an account that was closed over 3 years ago. The letter was sent to the home of my elderly father saying investigations had taken place to establish we lived there, which we did when the account was active but have not lived there for 3 and a half years.
    My husband phoned them and asked them to send correspondance here to save my father undue stress and I wrote to them saying I didn't believe we owed any money and after this we received what whe felt was a aggressive/threatening letter basically saying either pay up now or we will go to court and our credit rating will be affected and we will be very out of pocket, etc.
    I'm so relieved to see all these nessages that we're not alone!

    Anyway, I'm rambling. Can you point me in the right direction to where these letter templates are please.
    And we will be logging a complaint with the Office of Fair Trading too over the agressive nature of these letters making us feel intimidated - we almost just paid it to make the letters go away.

    C
  • I have also been threatened by SRJ for a debt I owed to Vodafone after changing addresses and them saying that I had not informed them of the new address and apparently when you cancel your contract you cancel the on line billing so I was not aware that I owed any further money to them.

    I contacted SRJ and they told me to email them asking for details of the debt as each person I spoke to told me the debt was for a different date and one even said that if I paid then he would reduce it by £9.75 - as this was the charges they added. This is not a charge this is the other part of the debt. This has been going on for several months and they have still not sent me the information I requested and every few weeks I would get the next threatening letter stating that they were taking me to court etc. I sent an email 9 times to date and so contacted Citizens Advice as I am worried that it will affect my credit rating and the fact that I was verbally threatened on the phone. My number must also be on their 'wanted' list as when I phoned to get some further information they already had my name etc.

    I also asked for complaints address he informed me - its the email address (the one which I have sent 9 emails to but they have no record of these emails)
    I asked if I could speak to a manager - I was told that they don’t have one - the previous threatening guy told me that if I calmed down he would allow me to speak to a manager but they would need to contact me later that night - I was upset at this point and nearly in tears because of his threatening tone, not angry as he tried to make out-when I explained I was not happy with that he quoted some legal jargon - basically saying pay the debt or else and then put the phone down.

    I cant believe the bullying ways this company has and will also be making a complaint. I can see how some people would pay the debts without checking what they owe the just to get them off their backs. On one phone call I was told that as the debt had been with them for more than 40 days they couldn’t stop it going to court – They have now sent a letter stating that my account is on hold. This could have something to do with the fact that I told them I was going to Citizens Advice who informed me that this was way too early for them to take me to court. To date SRJ have not confirmed what I actually owe and it took Vodafone nearly a month to send the actual bill, I will pay the debt as I do owe it but I have requested that I want information in writing as to if it has affected my credit rating.

    If there is anyone else having to deal with them - the best advice I would give is to contact Citizens Advice for their support so that you arent threatened in the way I was and make sure you do owe the debt before you pay them!

    Marie
  • Wish I'd seen this earlier! :(

    Just wasted a morning talking to the imbeciles at SRJ. They claim I owe money to Tiscali/Talk Talk. Which I don't. They refuse to send me a copy of any bill, and Talk Talk have no record of anything under the reference provided by SRJ. I frankly can't be bothered sending them a recorded delivery letter but I'll wait and see what response I get from TalkTalk before taking things further. I told SRJ that until I see any evidence of a bill I will regard their claim as fraudulent and a defamation of my character. I'll post again when I hear more.....
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 342.5K Banking & Borrowing
  • 249.9K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.4K Spending & Discounts
  • 234.6K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 607.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 172.8K Life & Family
  • 247.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.8K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards